1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a food warmer cabinet having a drawer slide, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved convection heated counter-height food warmer cabinet having an improved drawer slide assembly for extending and supporting a drawer.
2. Description of Related Art
Warming devices, such as food warming cabinets, are often used in restaurants to keep prepared foods at serving temperature prior to being served to restaurant patrons. Also, foods which require more preparation time are frequently prepared in advance and kept hot in these devices for later service to patrons.
Additionally, there is a need to rethermalize chilled or frozen foods in a manner that meets requirements of local health departments. Rethermalizing foods in an enclosed and temperature controlled environment is essential to ensure that all the foods are brought to serving temperature within recommended health department guidelines. The ability to rethermalize foods in a consistent time frame reduces, if not eliminates, the need for secondary warming containers. Where foods can be brought to serving temperature reasonably fast, serving lines can be replenished on an "as needed" basis, enhancing the flavor and texture of prepared foods.
Full size holding or delivery type food warmer cabinets are typically larger than counter-height food warmer cabinets. Thus, the full size food warmer cabinets have more shelving and subsequently retain a greater amount of food. However, work space is generally scarce in a commercial restaurant kitchen and full size food warmer cabinets occupy areas needed for food preparation. Although counter-height food warmer cabinets cannot retain as much food as full size food warmer cabinets, counter-height food warmer cabinets are implemented since they both warm food and provide valuable work space on the top thereof.
The exterior height and width of these counter-height food warmer cabinets are similar since the kitchen area is sized to accept a counter-height food warmer cabinet based on generally accepted restaurant specifications. Thus, a counter-height food warmer cabinet which provides more interior food storage space, given the fixed exterior specifications, is desirous.
The counter-height food warmer cabinets must be capable of quickly and evenly heating food. Commonly, heating elements, such as radiant heaters, are disposed in an area under each drawer of the food warmer cabinet. The placement of the heating elements under each drawer of the food warmer cabinet displaces valuable food storage space within the lower drawer area. Also, these heating elements concentrate the heat toward the lower or central portion of the drawer. Thus, food nearer the edges or top of the drawer are not warmed as quickly or to the high temperature of the foods placed in the center or bottom of the drawer.
Convection heating systems heat food more rapidly and evenly than the above described heating elements since the heat is circulated throughout the interior of the food warmer cabinet and surrounds the food. Therefore, regardless of the placement of the food, the food is evenly and rapidly heated to the desired temperature. Additionally, convection heating systems use electrical power more efficiently and are, therefore, less costly to operate.
The drawers of the food warmer cabinets are desirably fully extendable so that the food may be easily inserted and retrieved from the drawer. A fully extendable drawer allows for food to be placed directly into the interior drawer storage area without tipping the food storage container. That is, if a drawer is not fully extendable from the food warmer cabinet, the food storage container must be tipped upon insertion into the drawer and the food placed thereon could easily slide about the food storage container.
Typically, when conventional industry standard drawers become loaded with food, the slides which attach the drawers to the food warmer cabinet frequently buckle, bend, or fail to operate efficiently. A heavily laden drawer may cause the slides to bend slightly when the drawer is fully extended. Upon closing the drawer, the slide bends or buckles to a point where the slide is inoperable. Also, the harsh conditions of a commercial kitchen cause spilled food, grease and other materials to build-up on the drawer slide components which further hinders their operation.
Drawer slides which include many components, such as ball-bearings and track-wheels, are problematic under these conditions since they fail to operate properly when coated with food particles and grease. Drawer slides constructed of more rigid material, such as heavy gauge stainless steel, are capable of supporting the loaded drawers; however, slides constructed of this material are expensive to construct, but still have the inherent operational problems as lighter components.
Various drawer slides exist for supporting drawers in a wide range of applications outside of the food industry, such as household and office furniture. However, these drawer slides suffer from similar inefficiencies such as being complicated and expensive to construct, unable to support a significant amount of weight, bending, buckling and generally becoming inoperable when subjected to heavy loads.
To this end, a need exists for a food warmer cabinet which provides maximum interior storage space and which can implement a convection heating system for more evenly and efficiently heating food. In addition, a need exists for a drawer slide which is simple to construct and capable of fully extending a heavily weighted drawer with the drawer slide remaining operable under harsh conditions, hot or cold. It is to such a device that the present invention is directed.